Vegan Scottish Shortbread
Servings: 25 -28 wee biscuits
Calories: 63kcal
These Vegan Scottish Shortbread Biscuits are irresistibly sweet, crisp, buttery and melt-in-the-mouth. A nice wee pile of these crunchy, crumbly biscuits are a quick bake and are perfect with a nice cuppa tea.
Print Recipe
Equipment
- electric hand whisk or a mixing spoon
- sieve
- Rolling pin
- Biscuit/cookie cutter About 4 ½-5 cm diameter.
- Baking trays lined with parchment paper
Ingredients
- 115 grams vegan butter (room temperature, or replace with a vegan-friendly margarine suitable for baking, such as Stork baking spread)
- 60 grams icing sugar (also known as powdered or confectioners sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or essence)
- 160 grams self-raising flour
- 50 grams cornflour (corn starch)
To sprinkle over the baked biscuits:
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (or caster sugar, use more as required)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140°C Fan / 325°F / Gas Mark 3.Line the baking trays with parchment paper.
- Add the butter to a mixing bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Either whisk the butter and sugar together by hand with a mixing spoon or use an electric hand whisk until the mixture is thick and creamy.115 grams vegan butter, 60 grams icing sugar
- Next whip through the vanilla until well combined.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sift in the flour and cornflour. Mix the flours with a mixing spoon into the creamed mixture until it starts to come together. This may take a few minutes and it may look like the mixture will not come together into a dough but keep mixing.160 grams self-raising flour, 50 grams cornflour
- Using your hands press the bits of straggly looking dough into a ball of dough, pressing the dough between your hands so that it melds together.
- Sprinkle flour over the work surface.
- Knead very gently as the dough will be rather dry and crumbly.
- Dust the rolling pin with flour and dip the biscuit cutter into some flour. Make sure the work surface is well floured before adding the dough on to it.
- Gently but firmly pat the dough down into a flat disc and then use a rolling pin to carefully roll out the dough to about ¼-½ cm thick. If cracks appear on the dough just smooth these out with your fingers. The dough needs to be rather dry as this is what will give the biscuits their nice crispness.
- Using the biscuit cutter stamp out 25-28 biscuits, the exact amount will depend on how thin they are rolled out.
- Using a thin spatula or a cutlery knife carefully lift up each shortbread and place onto the baking tray. The cookies will not spread so they only need to be a few cm's apart.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm.
- The shortbread biscuits will continue to crisp up as they cool.
- Sprinkle granulated or caster sugar over the biscuits as soon as they are out of the oven. A little cinnamon can be mixed through the sugar if a cinnamon sugar topping is liked.2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- Leave the shortbread on the tray to cool completely. These biscuits are rather nice warm as well.
Notes
- Store shortbread biscuits in a biscuit or cookie tin or jar. Or within a covered container. If the container is plastic I recommend lining it with kitchen foil and wrapping the biscuits with the foil to prevent them going soft too soon. Shortbread will be fine in a suitable container for up to a week.
- Unbaked biscuit dough can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 3 months. Defrost before baking.
- Scottish shortbread biscuits are the perfect accompaniment to our delicious smooth whipped Tofu Chocolate Pudding or our old-fashioned Chocolate Custard Pudding.
- Instead of a sugar topping try a water icing and decorate with vegan cake sprinkles, etc.
- Stir a little cinnamon through the sugar topping to create a nice cinnamon shortbread biscuit.
- Or dip the shortbread biscuits into melted chocolate so that half the shortbread is chocolate or dip the surface or even the whole shortbread.
Nutrition
Calories: 63kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 27mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 157IU | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg
